The sport of the trade lords, Medici began with 61
competitors, but like the Highlander, there can be only one.
The finale started off with very high bidding. However,
when your competitors overbid, being the garbage collector can
pay off. And pay off huge it did as Rob Drozd picked up
17 points including the 10 gold on three cards for a mere 1 lira.
With this, he established the dominant position and the game
quickly devolved into a race for second. End of round 1: Rob
Drozd 74, Doug Galullo 37, Jeffrey Meyer 36, Bill Burch 35, Fred
Minard 28.

Round 2 saw more aggressive bidding and Fred Minard taking
a 5, 4, and 2 of Dyes for 18. Both he and Doug Gallulo
both reached the top of their respective towers. Drozd
meanwhile continued his frugal ways with a 13 point boat for
1 while all others had three or more shipments already. End of
Round 2: Drozd 83, Burch 63, Meyer 62, Gallulo 60, Menard 43.

Cutting Medici to two heats resulted in by far the
lowest attendance figures ever for the event - requiring a reprieve
from the Annual Membership vote or a sponsor. The event was ineligible
for a Legacy exception due to past GM failures within the preceding
ten-year qualifying period.